Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, has died of cancer at age 58, Vice President Nicolás Maduro announced this afternoon. Chavez had been fighting the disease since 2011, flying twice to Cuba for surgeries, and hadn't been seen in public for months before his death. Nevertheless, the former paratrooper, who turned to democratic politics after being imprisoned over a failed military coup, was re-elected president last year thanks to huge support from the country's poor and working class.